Beacon Street Blog

One of the nice things about staying in the same city where you go to library school, particularly in the case of Simmons/Boston, is that on occasion, you get to stay in touch with people who were in the program with you.

Brian Sullivan, the archivist at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, were both in the Simmons GSLIS program in '98, survived a few shared classes, and have seen each other from time to time over the past 11 years. Yesterday I happened to pick one of the best days ever to get my tour of the repository and grounds yesterday.

We did a quick visit inside to see the climate control, the boxes -- each plot (4-digit number usually) is its own catalog number, but since the grounds opened in 1832, there's still a lot to organize and frame in an archive/researcher-friendly way.

As Brian noted, Mt. Auburn is a very unusual sort of amalgamation of active burial ground, a garden, and an archive. The grounds itself is an archive with some interesting features and pitfalls. Instead of shelvers, there are gardeners. The headstones have preservation issues -- the marble melts away over the years, the slate separates. Families request changes to their plots and presto changeo, the literal landscape is altered. Oh, and sometimes trees fall down.

I would recommend touring the grounds with Brian. He is amazed, awed, enthusiastic, and on 175 acres, I suspect you could take a walk every day for months- years?- and see new things. Particularly when you remember the aforementioned ever-changing landscape and on top of that, changing seasons. He showed me amazing, beautiful, and heart-breaking. I think I overused the word "wow" just a little bit. The size and nature of the grounds are such that it's filled with famous people and particularly famous Congregationalists. I have squeezed a promise from Brian to write as a guest blogger here about someone whose collection we have -- someone yet to be determined.

Thanks, Brian, for the tour and the photos from this post. Be sure to see the thousands of entries at Flickr of the grounds.

The Congregational Library has a sizable collection of materials from the Christian Church. Although the Christian denomination only published national statistics sporadically until the late 19th century, the information contained in them provides lists of churches, and annual reports from regional conferences.

Information that would have been in a 1901 Annual was published in the Herald of Gospel Liberty vol.92, no.21 (Dec. 20, 1900), pp.809-824 as "The Christians' Annual, 1901".

When the General Convention of the Christian Church and the National Association of Congregational Churches merged in 1929, their respective annual publications -- the Christian Annual and the Congregational Year-Book -- also merged to form the Yearbook of the Congregational and Christian Churches.

Links to digitized copies of the Christian Annual can be found on our website under Digital Resources

Although the Congregational Library does not collect fiction, here are two books recently recommended by friends who know of my interest in the Salem witch trials. If you've read Eve Laplante's book The Salem Witch Judge: the Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewell, these books are lighter and good vacation reading.

Both authors are descendants of families of accused Salem witches. Kathleen Kent has written The Heretic's Daughter and is a descendant of Martha Currier who was hanged in Salem in 1692. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is by Katherine Howe whose family included both Elizabeth Proctor and Elizabeth Howe.

Let us know what you think.

On June 13, Librarian Claudette Newhall hosts a meeting and luncheon for church librarians. Enjoy lunch and a great opportunity to network and share experiences with your colleagues.

This event will be held at West Parish of Barnstable (built in 1717) and located at 2049 Meetinghouse Road (Route 149) Exit 5 off the Mid-Cape (Route 6), West Barnstable, MA 02668 phone 508.362.4445 http://www.westparish.org

Our local host is Shirley Stolte, West Parish church librarian. Please meet at the church at 10:30 am. for a discussion of church library issues. Lunch will follow at a local restaurant. The program is free except the cost of your lunch.

Advance registration is required. Deadline is June 10, 2009.

Call 617-523-0470 or email sthomas@14beacon.org.

I've been teaching a class to help churches deal with keeping and organizing their church records for several years now, but foolishly never came up with templates for a records management policy or a retention schedule. However, thanks to the power of the internet, I was able to find some very lovely documents from the Church of Christ and the United Methodists. Both gentleman I spoke to at the respective agencies were very happy to share their work with me. This is good because it really is all the same thing at a certain level and I hate having to reinvent the wheel. So, again: thank you!

Visit our Records Management Page to see our original Records Management pamphlet and the spiffy new templates.

I'm sure you're all very curious to know how the poll is going since we posted that almost a week ago. It turns out that 60% use Facebook, 40% use RSS, and only 20% go directly.

BlogStats_20090521.jpg

If you haven't filled out the poll yet, please do so -- we'll check it a few more times in the next week and if the results are radically different later, we'll let you know.

If our lovely viewing audience would be so kind as to follow this link to a survey that will tell us how you get to these posts, as we suspect it's not just in the traditional via Typepad's URL. We will be using the results at our annual meeting in a few weeks.

Thanks! Click here to take survey.

Thanks to the fantastic work of this semester's interns, plus my own diligence, our web site and online catalog has a number of newly organized collections. The following descriptions are pulled from the finding aids.

Hopkinton, New Hampshire - First Church. Records, 1757-1909. The archive assisted the Hopkinton church get these records microfilmed over the past many months; this collection is in microfilm form. The church maintains the original ledgers. Within the four volumes, there are records for membership (including admission/dismission), baptisms, deaths, marriages, meetings; the final volume includes the lists of ministers and deacons.

Charles Addison Richardson. Correspondence, 1794, 1798, 1848-1872. This collection is part of the Small Collections, which don't normally have guides of their own, however this Congregationalist editor's papers are a collection of letters; the guide is an index of who the correspondence is from.

Wendell, Massachusetts. Congregational Church. Records, 1783-1953. Last fall's intern, Kim Kinder organized these papers. Even though the church was relatively small throughout its life, it contributed to foreign missions as well as domestic, assisting in the mission work in China. The church belonged to the Franklin Association of Congregational Churches and worked closely with the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society to call and fund its ministers.

Intern Colleen Mahoney's contributions:

Henry Boynton Papers, 1824-1866. The Rev.Boynton served in Vermont, New York New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Anti-Slavery Society, and gave sermons on their behalf.

This collection includes 100 hand-written sermons and documents composed by Boynton between 1824 and 1858. Sermon topics include: slavery, prejudice, temperance, and missionary work. This collection also includes Boynton’s ledger book of marriage records, which includes records of weddings he performed between 1832 and 1866.

This collection came from the estate of Miss Ada Y. Harris of Bridgewater, New York, a descendant of Dr. William Yeats of Butternuts (Morris), New York. It was purchased by the Congregational Library in October 2008.

General Conference of the German Evangelical Congregational Churches of the United States. Records, 1883-1971. The General Conference of the German Evangelical Congregational Churches of the United States of America was founded in Crete, Nebraska in 1883, with the goal of improving communication and collaboration among German churches across the American west. This collection includes the incorporation records, minutes, correspondence, and some publications of the General Conference.

Massachusetts Conference. Essex South; Essex North. Records and Minutes, 1827-1972. The library had Essex records for years, but they had been in several separate collections. When the library acquired new material in 2008, we were motivated to consolidate. Includes the following five sub-sections: Essex South Association; Essex South Branch Missionary Association; Essex South Conference of Churches; Essex South South County Branch, Woman's Board of Missions, Executive Committee, also known as Essex South District; Essex North Association.

Konstancja Sinczak's contribution:

Massachusetts Council of Churches. Records, 1887-Present. Kasia organized the photographs -- Photographs of the activities of MCC and MCC affiliated groups. New analog additions dating after 2006 are not expected in any great volume due to the favoring of digital technologies. A more in depth guide to the photographs has been appended to this guide. The main guide now includes an overview of photograph subjects, as well as a more in-depth list. Both are appended to the web page version of the guide (link above).

Jonathan Mayhew (October 8, 1720 – July 9, 1766) was a noted American clergyman and minister at Old West Church in Boston. Mayhew was born at Martha’s Vineyard, being a descendant of Thomas Mayhew (1592-1682), an early settler and the grantee (1641) of Martha's Vineyard. Jonathan’s father, Experience Mayhew (1673-1758), was active as a missionary among the Indians of Martha’s Vineyard and the vicinity. The Mayhews were also involved with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England.

Mayhew graduated from Harvard in 1744. So liberal were his theological views that when he was to be ordained minister of the West Church in Boston in 1747, only two ministers attended the first council called for the ordination, and it was necessary to summon a second council. Mayhew's preaching made his church practically the first Unitarian Congregational church in New England, though it was never officially Unitarian.

Rev. Mayhew was opposed to the Stamp Act and is credited by John Adams as the author of the phrase, "no taxation without representation." Another of his quotes is "Extremes are dangerous."

In 1952 his portrait was taken to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for identification of the artist. The evidence from the Annual meeting report of 1875 stated the portrait was a gift in 1875 from Robert Dunning, Esq. of Georgetown, DC. The result of the examination authenticated the artist.

Rev. Mayhew’s portrait was painted by John Greenwood (American Colonial Era Painter, 1727-1792) one of the first Colonial portrait painters born in America. John Greenwood was one of that city's most prominent portrait painters during the 1740s, one of the reasons being that he had little competition. Greenwood painted many prominent merchants and members of the clergy. He worked in Boston from about 1745 to 1752. The painting is dated at approximately 1750 and appears to be in its original frame.

From today's Brown Bag lunch series.

In 1606, dissatisfied with the corruption and lapsed nature of the Church of England, religious Separatists in the village of Scrooby broke away from the established church. Scrooby Manor was William Brewster's home and became a meeting place for dissenters. Elder Brewster (1560-1644) led the Separatists (Pilgrims) from Scrooby Parish to Leiden, The Netherlands, and then on to Plymouth Colony. The clerk's desk in the Pratt Room is believed to have been used during Elder Brewster's tenure in Scrooby. The clerk's desk would have been located in the church below the pulpit on the same level as the congregation. It may have been below a reader's desk as well. The Parish Clerk stood or sat facing the congregation, who he led in the responses printed in the Prayer Book. He alos led the "lining of the psalms" and made community announcements from the desk.

In 1900, the desk was presented as a bequeathed to the Library by Charles Carlton Coffin (1823-1896) who obtained the desk from the Parish Clerk's House in Scrooby in 1880. Coffin was an author, journalist, war correspondent, and member of the Massachusetts Legislature 1884-1885.

The following was printed in the Forty-Third Annual Report of the Directors of the American Congregational Association of May 25, 1896: "The desk is doubtless contemporary with those forefathers (Plymouth Pilgrims), for it is reputed to be more than three hundred years old. With its solid oak, its quaint carvings, and its centuries of history, it is an object not to be regarded without emotion."

Added to the collection: John Calvin's Impact on Church and Society, 1509-2009 by Martin Ernst Hirzel

Contents: Preface / Thomas Wipf -- Introduction / Martin Ernst Hirzel and Martin Sallmann -- Calvin and the transformation of Geneva / Philip Benedict -- "Loved and feared" : Calvin and the Swiss Confederation / Emidio Campi and Christian Moser -- Calvinism in Europe / Andrew Pettegree -- Calvinism in North America / James D. Bratt -- Calvin's understanding and interpretation of the Bible / Wulfert de Greef -- Calvin's ecclesial theology and human salvation / Christopher L. Elwood -- Election and predestination / Christian Link -- Mutual connectedness as a gift and a task : on John Calvin's understanding of the church / Eva-Maria Faber -- Calvin's ethics / Eric Fuchs -- Calvinism and capitalism / Ulrich H. J. Kortner -- Calvin and religious tolerance / Christoph Strohm -- The contribution of Calvin and calvinism to the birth of modern democracy / Mario Turchetti.
Includes bibliographical references.

From the Constitution of the American Library Association in 1854: Article 2.

The object of the Association shall be to found and perpetuate a Library of Books, Pamphlets, and Manuscripts, and a collection of Portraits, and whatever else shall serve to illustrate Puritan history, and to promote the general interests of Congregationalism.

In 1864 the Congregational Library Association changed its name to the American Congregational Association.

The Congregational Library.

With a name like that, it's a natural assumption to think that we are the institutional library (and archive) of a single institution/denomination. As it turns out, though, we have no direct affiliation with any of the modern-day denominations coming out of the old Congregational tradition, including the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, the United Church of Christ, as well as the independent and federated churches.

In fact, our library predates all of those bodies. We were established in 1853, when the largely independent, decentralized Congregational churches were struggling with the prospect of organizing into a structured, national entity. In many ways, the Library is more of a separate historical society; it's owned by a nonprofit organization, the American Congregational Association.

While we do not provide a direct service to any of the various Congregational denominations (all of them have their own separate archives for current material), we do offer services to all of their members. We are in fact the only place in the world where all of those scattered Congregationalists come together into one room -- and we're pretty proud of that fact!

There are other myths that I run across in my work. Look for those in future posts.

Join us as we celebrate a new partnership between CCHS and Boston's historic Congregational Library.

Our featured speaker will be author, Eve LaPlante, discussing "Why Congregational History Matters Today". Ms. LaPlante is the author of American Jezabel, a biography of Anne Hutchinson and Salem Witch Judge, a biography of Samuel Sewell.

This event takes place Monday, March 23 at 3:00 p.m. at the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, 207 Washington Street, Wellesley Hills, MA 0248. http://www.hillschurch.org

Free and open to the public.

From swimsuit competition glamour to parish pulpit clamor - The Boston Globe

Posted using ShareThis

Join us at noon on Wednesday, March 18 to hear Dr. Garth M. Rosell discuss his book: The Surprising Work of God : Harold John Ockenga, Billy Graham, and the Rebirth of Evangelicalism. Ockenga was pastor of the Park Street Church and co-founder of Fuller Theological Seminary, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the National Association of Evangelicals, and Christianity Today.

Dr. Rosell is professor of Church History at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts and has lectured on a variety of college, university and seminary campuses. His most recent book is a history of Park Street Church which celebrates its two hundredth anniversary this year: Boston's Historic Park Street Church: The Story of an Evangelical Landmark.

Free and open to the public. Please bring your lunch.

Author Jonathan Page discusses his recently published book, Ringing the Gotchnag: Two American Missionary Families in Turkey, 1855-1922. This narrative, published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, details how and why missionary policy changed while illuminating a fascinating tale of New England Christians in the land of the sultan.

Jonathan is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Divinity School. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, he is the Epps Fellow in the Memorial Church, Harvard University.

Jonathan will be available to sign copies of his book. A few copies will be available for sale at the event. Bring your lunch and join us at noon for an informative and engaging discussion. Free and open to the public.

The Church 2.0: Web Tools for the Tech Savvy Christian workshop on Thursday, February 5 has been canceled. Please check our web site for other events.

The library will be closed to the public from Noon until 2 PM on January 14.

The Massachusetts Bible Society is holding a luncheon at the library with our Director Peggy Bendroth as the featured speaker. Her topic is "The People and the Book: A History of the Bible in American Culture".

Reservations are required. For details and to make reservations please see www.massbible.org.

Press Release:

December 23, 2008
Press contact: Erin Allen (202) 707-7302, eral@loc.gov
                     David Taylor (202) 707-1737, dtay@loc.gov

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SEEKS SERMONS AND ORATIONS
RELATING TO 2009 PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION

Over many decades, the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress has documented everyday citizens reactions to major historic events in our collective American experience. For instance, man-on-the-street interviews were recorded on the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941; Italian-Americans were documented to celebrate the Columbus Quincentenary in 1992; interviews were conducted with Americans across the nation in the weeks following the tragedy of September 11, 2001; and the Veterans History Project is preserving the personal experience stories of Americans who served the nation in wartime. These voices of ordinary Americans responding to extraordinary events exist as valuable research collections for the scholars of today and they are a cultural legacy preserved for future generations.

On January 20, 2009, the United States will inaugurate Barack Obama, the countrys first African-American president. In anticipation of citizens efforts to mark this historic time around the country, the AFC will be collecting audio and video recordings of sermons and orations that comment on the significance of the inauguration of 2009. It is expected that such sermons and orations will be delivered at churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship, as well as before humanist congregations and other secular gatherings. The AFC is seeking as wide a representation of orations as possible. This collection is one of many oral history and spoken word collections at the AFC that preserve American emotions and memories of important cultural events.

Congregations and groups interested in contributing to this once-in-a-lifetime documentary project are asked to record sermons and orations delivered during Inauguration Week 2009 and donate them to the Library of Congress. The donated recordings will be preserved at the AFC in order to enhance the nations historical record and preserve the voices of religious leaders and other orators for researchers and scholars of the future. After being processed by archivists, the collection will be made available to scholars, students and the general public.

Individuals and groups interested in contributing to the Inauguration 2009 Sermons and Orations Project are asked to submit audio and video recordings made in digital or other approved formats. To be accepted into the collection, the recordings must be of sermons and orations that were delivered to congregations and other audiences between Friday, Jan. 16 and Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009.

In addition to audio and video recordings, the AFC is collecting written texts of sermons and orations (submitted in the form of print or electronic media), as well as printed programs from the events during which the sermons and orations were delivered. All submissions must be postmarked by Feb. 27, 2009, and must be accompanied by a signed release form and completed data form, found on the AFC website, www.loc.gov/folklife/inaugural/

For additional information about the Inauguration 2009 Sermons and Orations Project, including the technical specifications of the recordings that can be accepted, downloadable copies of the required forms, and instructions for submitting collections, please visit www.loc.gov/folklife/inaugural/, or call the Center at (202) 707-5510 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, Eastern Standard Time.

The Library of Congress, the nation's oldest federal cultural institution, is the world's preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled collections and integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Many of the Library's rich resources and treasures may also be accessed through the Library's Web site www.loc.gov and via interactive exhibitions on a new, personalized Web site at myLOC.gov.

The American Folklife Center was created by Congress in 1976 and placed at the Library of Congress to preserve and present American Folklife through programs of research, documentation, archival preservation, reference service, live performance, exhibition, public programs and training.

PR 08-234
12/19/08

We will be closing the Library on Monday, December 8 at 1:00 PM to host the tenants Holiday Party in the Library. The party will be followed by the quarterly Board of Directors meeting.

The Library will be open normal hours the remainder of the week.

What's Green and Read All Over?
The Great American Book Drive.

Ever wondered what to do with all those books collecting dust on your shelves, piling up in your closet, or hiding under your bed? On Saturday, November 8th, put them to work for the Prison Book Program and City Mission Society by participating in the launch of The Great American Book Drive. Choose to support reuse, help open doors for prisoners, and promote social justice by donating your gently used books.

Better World Books will sell them to people all over the world who will cherish them...and the Prison Book Program and the City Mission Society will benefit with every sale. It's about literacy, not landfill.

For complete information visit www.prisonbookprogram.org/bookdrive.

Help the Prison Book Program and City Mission Society by forwarding this email near and far...

The Administrative Assistant works under the direction and in collaboration with the Executive Director and Librarian of the American Congregational Association with responsibilities for general office and library administration.

Responsibilities

• Performs all secretarial and administrative functions (filing, correspondence, event, meeting and travel arrangements, etc.) to assist Executive Director
• Manages fundraising database and e-newsletter
• Prepares bank deposits of donations
• Charts registrations for all classes and library events
• Maintains all mailing lists
• Writes thank you letters for donations
• Creates and circulates quarterly meeting minutes and reports for Board of Directors
• Carries out related duties as required (bulk mailings)
• Processes and tracks requests for travel grants
• Provides Archivist with necessary records for ACA archive
• Maintains general library record keeping and correspondence
• Assists Executive Director and/ or Librarian with special projects as assigned
• Provides general office assistance to Associate Librarian and Archivist as needed

Requirements:

• Two or four year degree or equivalent work experience
• One-three years experience working in a church, religious organization, or nonprofit setting
• Excellent technical skills required, including: Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, Access), bookkeeping, and online donation/fundraising systems
• Background and/or education in Congregationalism desirable
• Advanced organizational and analytical skills, and attention to detail
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Ability to work independently and as team member

Please apply by October 17, 2008. To apply please mail or email cover letter and resume to:

Claudette Newhall, Associate Librarian,
Congregational Library,
14 Beacon St., 2nd Floor,
Boston, MA 02108

cnewhall@14beacon.org

We've received some new books you may be interested in borrowing.

Dry Bones and Indian Sermons: Praying Indians in Colonial America by Kristina Bross
More information in the Amazon review

The Healer's Calling: Women and Medicine in Early New England by Rebecca J. Tannenbaum
More information in the Amazon review

Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East by Ussama Makdisi
More information in the Amazon review